4 years later...

I began to explore more ATCs and mixed media journal pages. I'm having fun!

More on Cobweb Felting

So, I spent yesterday rolling around on my kitchen floor.

I laid out my wool on top of a layer of bubble wrap and plastic window screening.

This is a merino wool/silk blend. The embellishments are angora.

I topped the wool with another layer of screening for the roll-up. That's a pool noodle in the center.

Doing the fringe was fast and easy. I just rolled the strips between my hands.

I'm pretty happy with the results!

My new scarf is pretty and so very soft.

A nice reward for a day spend rolling around on the kitchen floor!

Cobweb felt

So this is my first sample of cobweb felt.  I put a post-it beneath the piece to show the delicate transparency. This has me very excited. O, to work a cirrostratus scarf in sky blues and whites!

Once again, the Stark Raving Newbie has discovered a whole new realm with its own peculiar lingo...I am trying to learn the glossary and what it means to my work. VM...tops...merino... roving...half blood...really? Why are combs called cards??

I have borrowed some library books on the topic of felting. Ones that don't assume you know anything. VERY helpful since one must buy most supplies online...and know what the heck to buy!

One perk is that these supplies weigh practically nothing. Shipping costs are but a song!

Felt in process

So, I am just barely getting my feet wet in felting! I find it so wonderfully forgiving and exciting that I am just throwing down whatever with barely a design idea in my head. I am having a blast!

But instead of slamming down more expensive supplies "just playing," I think I will finish this up and move on to an inspired design. Stay tuned!

On being a mermaid

Ya ever wonder where you end and the water begins? Or where the water ends and you begin? That precise place and time varies from wave to wave...

Needle Felting!

Here's my first venture into the realm of needle felting! I wanted to begin with something tiny and quick, so I purchased a hedgehog kit from Dimensions.

The kit comes with a foam work surface and two felting needles (as well as an embroidery needle.)

In addition, I bought a Clover Needle Felting tool.

This has five needles in it, all working at once. I figured it would speed up my process. It did, indeed. I also bought a cheap household scrub brush at the dollar store as a work base for the Clover tool.

Starting with loose wool roving (very light and fluffy) needling it down to a good, tight density, I'd say I have about an 8% compression when I squeeze the finished project. (The hedgehog said he does not mind being squeezed!) Not bad for a first try.

I really am after a very tight finished product in my felting adventures. I don't much like the excess fibers sticking out here and there, generally.

Makes me wonder if a needle-felted finished item can then be further manipulated by wet-felting to get those fibers down.

A Fox Stole

I crocheted a fox stole for my 11 yr old daughter Lorna. No pattern. I simply made row after row of big-hook double crochet stitches, reducing for the snout and where the tail meets the 'body' of the stole, and again for the tip of the tail. Foxy features include nose, purchased eyes, ears and four black paws (not pictured.) Lorna loves it! She named him Fettucini :)

Lobster details

This was what I sent for Rachel to include in the Alice in Wonderland themed art book. Alice's tears are paste-paper I made in my favorite tint of Public Pool. The lobster origami was quite a feat as I wanted a thick paper, yet those cannot hold up to too much folding. After tearing a few, I managed to get one to hang on to his own shell through the process. He got a sugary glow from Perfect Pearls and was then off in the mail to beat the deadline by mere minutes!!

Lobster Quadrille - November 2012

In November, I had lobsters on the brain (just like any normal mermaid would.) But this time at the behest of my friend Rachel Shreck, as she compiled an art book based on Alice in Wonderland. It was a gift for her husband at Christmas. Can you imagine being the happy recipient of a massive book - each page an original work by a dear friend?! Variations on a theme. I had to go with the Lobster :)

I like photography very much. I don't consider myself a photographer, but I do think I have an eye for it. So, here you get a chance to see what I saw in a moment, shot with my phone and filtered through the foibles of all concerned. My friend Rachel Shreck has been a huge encouragement to me in this realm. <3

Project updates

I'll be posting a selection of photos that cover the last several years of my projects.

Five Years Later...

I''m very excited to have reclaimed my old blog! Over the weekend, I will edit, update, dust-off and celebrate! I hope you'll join me!

Oh, Mexico!

There's that background again! This is the same "failed" alcohol/dye ink experiment that became the moon in my 'Tango' cards. Here, I toned it way down and made it look old fashioned with the editor on Photobucket.

Adding Lucia and a metallic border was almost anti-climactic to me, but I still like it.

Whipped Cream & Other Delights-Herb Alpert & the TJB

One of my favorite albums and cover art of all time.It seemed perfect on my Ranger Adirondack alcohol ink background.

I'd been holding back from posting this because I have a bunch or these out in a swap, but I'm sure everyone has received them by now. My parents had this record. I always wanted to be that girl!

Still More Tango!

Tonight Sue and I had the ultimate privelege of working together without a time constraint and zero interruptions! Absolutely amazing!




I made a few more Tango cards. Sue challenges me to cut paper images "perfectly". Well, look at the arm on the far right lady: I chiseled the poor dear!! This is gonna take some practice and new spex!

Mistakes - ya gotta love 'em.

Learning from my mistakes:

*sigh* I loved this background so much. It's absolutely LUSH. And it was the word 'lush' that led me to put Janis Joplin on the card.

Papers: I am just now getting the hang of using the right papers for the job. Look closely at Janis. The adhesive (I don't remember what I used. Probably Uhu stick)created streaks in the image. Live & learn.

Inks: Know what you are working with! The only mistake I made with the gold ink (floral area) was using it without knowing what it was. I won't take all the blame, though. The unopened tube said Tsukineko Dauber Duos, with no mention whatsoever of the medium contained therein. Never again.(Today, through a little Googling, I learned that these are indeed pigment inks. Why not print that info on the little tube rolling around the studio?)

I still love this project idea. Maybe one day I will rework it with the right stuff.

Revisiting "Tonight, We Tango"

I've received several requests for more info about the process on this card, so here goes:

It all began with a "failed" experiment when I stamped dye-based ink on top of an alcohol ink background:

I scanned it and uploaded it to my (free!) PhotoBucket account. There, I was able to play with the image a little bit. I put the image into a pre-fab astrounaut helmet, only because I like glass globes and this was as close as I could get to one on PhotoBucket.





From there, I cropped the image, eliminating the astronaut part as much as possible.




And though I did not use this in my ATC, I experimented a further by "bulging" the stamped image a little bit. I think it looks cool.

I then printed the image on Bristol (nothing special about my printer or inks -- remember, I am a Stark Raving Newbie!) and cut it out. I inked the edges PRIOR to adhesion (lesson learned).

Voila! I think I am re-inventing the moon!

Art Salon Blitz!

There is bliss in losing oneself in art!

Sue's fabulously brilliant hubby Dan (who graciously drilled out the chocolate beads I bought) is off traveling for work this week. That means more Art Salon time for me and Sue! We met yesterday and we plan to do it again on Tuesday night (my day off work, yay). My own fabulously brilliant hubby will be home with our children so that I can be free!

Now I think I understand why so many crafters stick wings and party hats on things!

I have been meaning to share this with you: I joined a swap on the Yahoo Group called artisttradingcards and I wound up receiving a card from Sue Harrison! How funny is that! Here is her entry and I love it!



When I was about four years old, I attached my own personal "message from God" to sightings of a white butterfly. I've told my children about it, and it makes them happy too. Often they come to me excitedly saying, "I saw the White Butterfly!"

Tonight, We Tango!

Here's one of the many things that came out of the Art Salon today!

Liquid Blue

My ATC entry in the Arty Girlz Challenge #45 "Blue"

This is an Adirondack alcohol ink background on pearlized glossy card stock.
Printed surfer silhouette - Ranger Glossy Accents
Edited on Photobucket's program